


now you're just somebody that I used to know

by toastweasel



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: And You Can Pry That Headcanon From My Cold Dead Hands, Hurt/Comfort, ive also had this ideas stuck in my head for months, kya helped mentor and train korra and taught her about the world outside, rated for language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29145933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toastweasel/pseuds/toastweasel
Summary: Since the young Avatar has come tumbling into her life, Kya has had to constantly remind herself that Korra is her own person. But over the years, she's learned that separating her father from Korra is easier said than done...especially when it seems like her father keeps trying to reach through to say, "I love you."-/-Alternatively known as: nine times Kya and family have to explain to Korra why what she just said/did is weird, and the one time Korra realizes it all by herself.
Relationships: Korra & Kya II (Avatar), Korra & The Cloudkids, Korra & The Gaang
Comments: 17
Kudos: 72





	1. LIN BEIFONG

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I thought about writing that Kya and Korra and Katara oneshot, I thought about how weird it must be for the Gaang + The Cloudkids to navigate their relationships with Korra while mourning Aang's death. And then I read The Kyoshi books, where Kyoshi sang that song that she wasn't supposed to know, and I remembered the toy ceremony and I thought.... I could write some FEELINGS.
> 
> So here I am. Have some feels. :)
> 
> Set post Turf Wars and Ruins of the Empire, but hopefully minimal spoilers for both. Bad influence by Holocene, beta by Linguini.

Kya was perched on the edge of Lin’s desk, trying to convince her to come out for lunch, when Lin’s assistant knocked on the door and pushed it open just enough to stick her head in.

“The Avatar is here to see you, Chief.”

Kya watched Lin’s eyebrows bunch up in the exasperated expression of a woman who simply wanted to read her reports in peace but was finding it increasingly difficult to do so. “Does she have an appointment?”

“No,” Hui said with a shake of her head. “Should I tell her you’re busy?”

Lin sighed and rubbed tiredly at her brow. “No, it’s fine, we’re about to leave for lunch anyway.”

“We are?” Kya asked happily, warmth blossoming in her chest.

The metalbender shot her a look that morphed into a fond roll of her eyes. “Send her in.”

Hui nodded and stepped out. Korra replaced her a moment later in the doorway, peeking in the cracked door. “Uh, hey, Beifong. I—oh—hi, Kya.”

Kya waved, and Korra pushed the door open. It had been several weeks since Kya had seen her; she’d been off dealing with the triads, and then somewherein the Earth Kingdom handling something to do with the ruins of the Earth Empire. She was looking better than the last time Kya had seen her, her aura more settled and her posture looser.

Beside her, Lin shifted in her chair, crossing one leg over the other with a clank.

“Greetings, Avatar Korra,” Lin said, and Kya smiled as the fond sarcasm in Lin’s voice settled on the weight of Korra’s title. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Uh, I’m actually here to apologize,” Korra said sheepishly, tugging at the back of her neck with one hand and setting a white paper bag carefully on Lin’s desk with the other. “I uh. Kind of trashed the city with a giant mecha and then left on vacation with Asami and then…well a lot of stuff happened.”

“So it did,” the metalbender said dryly as Kya watched. “And before that you smothered the city in vines while battling a giant spirit monster in my harbor, and before that you incited a civil war…two of them, actually.”

“Yeah…” The young Avatar tugged at the back of her neck again, deflating slightly. “Sorry.”

Kya could tell from Lin’s body posture there was no malice in the police chief’s words, just tacit amusement. Lin was teasing, in the only way she knew how. The metalbender reached forward and picked up the bag by the top.

“What’s this?”

“An apology present? Asami says Zhong Qiu Jie is one of Republic City’s busiest times for the police, so I thought I’d…uh... Bring you something to uh...apologize for making the last few years busier than they should have been.”

Kya peered nosily over the top of the bag as Lin pulled it closer. Inside was a small box, which Lin lifted out. “What are they?”

“Mooncakes.”

Lin set the bag aside and held the box out for Kya to inspect. Kya took it from her happily, inspecting the round little cakes within. They were still warm, the glaze of the egg wash shiny in the afternoon sun streaming in from the office windows. They smelled amazing, and Kya leaned over to take note of the name of the bakery so she could get some of her own after lunch.

Beside her, Lin was still talking. “I see you’ve been talking with Detective Mako.”

Korra shook her head. “I haven’t seen Mako since we got back. I just happened to be walking by and they were baking them fresh and I thought I’d…y’know. Get you some to apologize.”

Kya looked up in time to see Lin’s eyebrow arch into the stratosphere. “You’d just get me some? From my favorite bakery in Republic City?”

Korra shrugged helplessly. “Lucky guess?”

Kya closed the lid of the box and smiled at the characters scrawled across the top. “And you got her plum blossom, too.”

The metalbender glanced over at her, stunned. “What did you say?”

“They’ve got plum blossom filling,” Kya told her, and passed the box back to her. “That’s your favorite, right?”

Lin rounded back on Korra with a scowl, clutching the cardboard box of mooncakes tightly in one hand. “Did Tenzin put you up to this?”

“What? No!” Korra exclaimed defensively. “I told you, I was just passing by.”

“He didn’t mention it to you at all?”

“No,” the Avatar growled, the frustration growing in her features. “Why are you being so weird about this, Beifong?”

“Because there are only three people in the world who know my favorite order from Huang’s is their plum blossom mooncakes,” Lin said flatly. “One of them died and became you, one of them is downstairs in my Major Crimes bullpen, and the third is the leader of the Air Nation. So who told you, Tenzin or Mako?”

Kya’s eyes widened in realization, and before she could stop herself she started to laugh. The feuding women turned to stare at her as she doubled over laughing so hard there were tears streaming down her cheeks.

“What’s so funny?” Lin demanded.

“You’ve been Avatar’d,” Kya said with a giggle, reaching over and giving the shoulder of Lin’s armor a playful shove.

Korra immediately cringed. Hard.

“Oh fuck me,” she groaned, all of the tension from the conflict almost immediately draining out of her shoulders. “I didn’t even know I could still  _ do  _ that.”

“Me neither.”

“I thought it would have stopped when I broke the Avatar cycle.”

“I would have thought so, too,” the healer replied, straightening up and tapping on her chin thoughtfully. “Is it Raava holding the memory, then? Or is it something else?”

Lin threw her hands up in disgust. “What are you two  _ talking  _ about?”

Kya grinned and slipped off her desk, grabbing Lin’s coat from where it hung on the rack and holding it open for her. “Come buy us lunch and I’ll tell you.” She glanced over at Korra, still standing half-mortified, half-electrified, in front of Lin’s desk, and winked. “I promise I’ll leave out the embarrassing stuff.”

Korra shook her head and puffed out her cheeks. “No you won’t.”

Kya could feel her smile widen even further as she helped a grouchy Lin into her coat.

“C’mon, love,” she said cheerfully, looping her arm around Lin’s and dragging her along as she pushed Korra out the double doors of Lin’s office. “It’s time to catch you up on some twenty-odd years of history.”


	2. KYA

The little girl was like an over excited polarbear-dog puppy; she bounced all around Kya’s room in the hut, standing on her tiptoes to view the various items scattered on most of the surfaces.

Kya was seated on the bed, watching her, still getting used to the fact that this little girl was her own person. Kya knew, logically, that Korra wasn’t her father. There was almost nothing about her that was at all like her father, although that cheeky smile came close. Korra was loud, brash, and impulsive, as proud as her father had been humble.

And spirits, was she curious.

“What’s this?” Korra suddenly asked.

Kya looked up to see the item in question; the piece of earthenware Korra was pointing to was almost a decade old. She’d bought it on some of her earliest travels. “A pot from the eastern archipelagos of the Fire Nation.”

“Where’s that?”

Kya smiled and stood, going over to her collection of maps and pulling out the appropriate scroll after a minute or so of searching. She beckoned Korra over and spread the map out on the bed, tapping the edge so Korra could put one little palm on it to keep from rolling back on itself. 

“Have you ever seen a map of the world, Korra?”

She nodded.

“Good. So where are we?” Korra’s little face scrunched up in the picture of concentration as she studied the map. Finally, one chubby finger pointed at the dot representing Harbor City. “Here.”

“Nice work,” Kya told her, and rolled the map out just a hair more and then pointed to the crescent-shaped grouping of islands to their northwest. “This is the Fire Nation. The capital city, Caldera, is here.” She pointed, then traced her finger down the curve to the second to last island. “This is where I bought that pot.”

The little Avatar nodded seriously. “What’s it like there?”

“Warm,” Kya replied. “With beautiful black sand beaches and amazing food. They have puffins, but with toucan bills instead of seal flippers. And you know sea slugs?”

Korra, who was clearly enraptured at the idea of life outside the South Pole, nodded enthusiastically.

“So in the Fire Nation, they roast sea slugs instead of stewing them. They get salted and rubbed in chilies, then spun over flames to cook. They serve them with rice or noodles,in big red and black bowls, but you can eat it right off the stick.”

“That sounds so good!”

“It  _ is _ good,” Kya told her with a conspiratorial wink. “I’ll make it for you sometime.”

Korra’s eyes sparkled, and Kya had a feeling she’d endeared herself to the little girl for life. “Cool!” She jumped back, already spinning on her heel to inspect the room with new eyes. Then, suddenly, those eyes got huge and she pointed excitedly. “Mister Rabicus!”

Kya felt her heart seize. She followed Korra’s gaze up to the top of her scroll case, where her very old and very bedraggled childhood rabaroo plush sat in a place of honor. He overlooked the room with his small, beaded eyes, eyes that had been sewn back on by Aang more times than she could count. 

“What did you say?” she asked faintly.

“Mister Rabicus!” Korra repeated, then hesitated, clearly thrown by the look on Kya’s face. “Its…that’s his name right?” 

She nodded numbly. As if on autopilot Kya plucked the rabaroo toy off the shelf, and Korra reached up and stroked his foot from where it dangled in Kya’s hands. Kya let her have him, and the little girl carefully cradled him in her arms, suddenly calm.

“How—Korra, how do you know his name?” 

Korra gave her an imperious look only a self-important five year old could muster and cuddled Mister Rabicus closer. “He told me. Duh.”

And Kya’s heart ached. 


End file.
